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Wei Liaozi — Weighing the Attack尉繚子 攻權

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi 武經七書 · Ascribed to Jiang Taigong · ascribed to Huang Shigong · Wei Liao · Wu Qi · Sima Rangju · Li Jing · Warring States to Tang (4th century BC to 7th century AD) · 6 passages · 269 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 min

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi Weiliaozi The six that remain when the Art of War of Sunzi is taken out of the seven military books the Song set as the texts for examining military officers. The Six Secret Teachings is sixty chapters of questions and answers in which King Wen and King Wu ask Taigong Wang, running from the governing of a state to chariots, cavalry, battle in the open and the crossing of water; the Three Strategies is three short books said to have been given to Zhang Liang by Huang Shigong; the Wei Liaozi is twenty-four chapters setting down in detail the military orders and the squads of five and ten around the time of Qin; the Wuzi is six chapters of Wu Qi's answers to Marquis Wu of Wei; the Methods of the Sima is five chapters handing down the military rites of before the Spring and Autumn period; and Questions and Replies with Li Weigong is three books in which Taizong of Tang and Li Jing go back and forth over the unorthodox and the orthodox, the empty and the full, the frontier peoples and the Han, and attack and defense. "Arms are an instrument of ill omen," "bring the enemy to you and do not be brought to him," and "a thousand chapters and ten thousand phrases do not go beyond that one phrase" all come from here. The remaining six streams of the military school, read after the Art of War, are gathered in one place.

1The general is the mind, the troops are the limbs

將帥者，心也；群下者，支節也。其心動以誠，則支節必力；其心動以疑，則支節必背。夫將不心制，卒不節動；雖勝，幸勝也，非攻權也。

The commanding general is the mind; those below him are the limbs and joints. When his mind moves in sincerity, the limbs and joints are sure to put out their strength; when his mind moves in doubt, the limbs and joints are sure to turn away. When a general does not govern with his mind and the soldiers do not move like joints, then even a victory is a victory by luck, and not the weighing of the attack (攻權).

2The people do not hold two fears

夫民無兩畏也，畏我侮敵，畏敵侮我。見侮者敗，立威者勝。凡將能其道者，吏畏其將也；吏畏其將者，民畏其吏也；民畏其吏者，敵畏其民也。是故，知勝敗之道者，必先知畏侮之權。

The people do not hold two fears. Fearing me, they make light of the enemy; fearing the enemy, they make light of me. He who is made light of is beaten; he who sets up awe wins. When a general is able in this way, the officers fear their general; when the officers fear their general, the people fear their officers; when the people fear their officers, the enemy fears the people. So he who knows the way of victory and defeat must first know the weighing of fear and contempt.

3A good general has only love and awe

夫不愛悅其心者，不我用也；不嚴畏其心者，不我舉也。愛在下順，威在上立；愛故不二，威故不犯。故善將者，愛與威而已。

If their hearts are not loved and gladdened, they will not be used by me; if their hearts are not made strict and fearful, they will not rise for me. Love lies in those below being obedient; awe lies in its being set up above. Because there is love, they are not of two minds; because there is awe, they do not transgress. So a good general has love and awe and nothing more.

4Where victory is not certain, one cannot speak of battle

戰不必勝，不可以言戰；攻不必拔，不可以言攻。不然，雖刑賞不足信也。信在期前，事在未兆，故眾已聚不虛散，兵已出不徒歸；求敵若求亡子，擊敵若救溺人。

If you will not surely win by fighting, you cannot speak of fighting; if you will not surely take it by attacking, you cannot speak of attacking. Otherwise even punishments and rewards are not enough to be trusted. Trust lies before the appointed day and the work lies before the first sign, and so a host once gathered does not scatter for nothing, and troops once sent out do not come home for nothing. Seek the enemy as you would seek a lost child; strike the enemy as you would save a drowning man.

5A battle held in righteousness honors beginning from oneself

凡挾義而戰者，貴從我起；爭私結怨，貴以不得已。怨結難起，待之貴後。故爭必當待之，息必當備之。

Whoever fights holding to righteousness honors having it begin from himself; whoever contends for private ends and knots up enmity honors doing it only when he cannot do otherwise. When enmity is knotted and trouble arises, in waiting it is honorable to come later. So in contending one must surely wait, and in ceasing one must surely be prepared.

6Weigh the enemy and examine his general, and only then raise troops

權敵審將，而後舉兵。

Weigh the enemy and examine his general, and only then raise troops.

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